# Create README > Use when an open source project's README needs writing or rewriting. Write or improve concise, reader-focused README.md files for open source projects. Use for new READMEs, README rewrites, installation and usage examples, or README reviews. Do not use for API references, tutorials, changelogs, contributing guides, or unrelated prose editing. ## Facts - Type: Agent skill - Discipline: Engineering - Author: Matt Silverlock (https://github.com/elithrar) - Upstream: https://github.com/elithrar/dotfiles/blob/main/.agents/skills/create-readme/SKILL.md - Source file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elithrar/dotfiles/main/.agents/skills/create-readme/SKILL.md (2989 bytes, sha256:9dcfd03a13bcddf34dc469b7b54368d409c0a6b3057e3903a8f081be7b03b684) - Licence: MIT - Upstream copy last changed: 2026-09-17 - Status: listed, not yet ruled on by the curator ## Use it I want to use the Create README skill by Matt Silverlock. This is what it does, in the author's own words: Write or improve concise, reader-focused README.md files for open source projects. Use for new READMEs, README rewrites, installation and usage examples, or README reviews. Do not use for API references, tutorials, changelogs, contributing guides, or unrelated prose editing. Download the whole folder at https://github.com/elithrar/dotfiles/tree/main/.agents/skills/create-readme, SKILL.md and every file beside it, into your skills directory: ~/.claude/skills/create-readme/ for Claude Code, ~/.agents/skills/create-readme/ for Codex, ~/.cursor/skills/create-readme/ for Cursor. Get it from the author's repo, not from startupskills.dev. Then tell me the path you installed it to and how to invoke it. Nothing here is vendored: install from the author's repo, not from this site. A verbatim copy of the author's file follows for reading, under the licence reproduced after it; the current file is in the author's repo. ## Links - Page: https://startupskills.dev/elithrar/create-readme - Author: https://startupskills.dev/elithrar - Index: https://startupskills.dev/llms.txt ## The file itself --- name: create-readme description: Write or improve concise, reader-focused README.md files for open source projects. Use for new READMEs, README rewrites, installation and usage examples, or README reviews. Do not use for API references, tutorials, changelogs, contributing guides, or unrelated prose editing. --- # Create README Write a README that tells prospective users what the project does, why it is useful, and how to reach a working result. ## Workflow 1. Inspect the existing README, manifests, public APIs, examples, tests, release metadata, and license as relevant. 2. Identify the intended reader, the problem the project solves, its shortest useful workflow, and any adoption-critical limits or tradeoffs. 3. Choose only the sections the project needs. A typical order is: project name, direct introduction, key capabilities, installation, a minimal example, advanced workflows or design notes, contributing, and license. 4. Write the smallest realistic example first. Use actual commands, package names, APIs, and configuration from the repository. Add specialized examples only when they answer a likely next question. 5. Verify changeable claims, commands, links, supported versions, and examples. Run the smallest safe example or relevant check when feasible, and report anything that remains unverified. ## House Style Use the house-style principles below. Consult these examples only when a requested style match needs more context: [elithrar/ask-bonk](https://github.com/elithrar/ask-bonk), [elithrar/simple-scrypt](https://github.com/elithrar/simple-scrypt), [elithrar/fuse-on-r2](https://github.com/elithrar/fuse-on-r2), and especially [gorilla/csrf](https://github.com/gorilla/csrf). - Explain usefulness before setup. Name concrete outcomes and use cases instead of calling the project powerful, robust, or easy. - Move quickly from context to installation and a working example. - Introduce examples with what they demonstrate. Progress from the common case to meaningful variants. - Put security warnings, operational caveats, and tradeoffs beside the example or claim they qualify. - Use design notes when they help readers trust an important implementation choice. - Keep the structure proportional to the project. A demo may need only context, tradeoffs, deployment, and links. A mature library may need compatibility, several examples, and design rationale. - Use concise, direct American English with a conversational technical tone. Keep mild personality when it is natural. - Preserve the author's terminology and voice. Avoid marketing language, filler, repetition, and sections added only by convention. Never invent features, commands, support, performance, or maturity. If the project's purpose or audience cannot be established from available evidence, ask one focused question. For an audit-only request, report prioritized findings without editing. For a create, rewrite, or fix request, update the README and preserve unrelated files. ## Licence of the file above The file above is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elithrar/dotfiles/main/.agents/skills/create-readme/SKILL.md, by Matt Silverlock, reproduced without changes. - Source: https://github.com/elithrar/dotfiles/blob/main/.agents/skills/create-readme/SKILL.md - Copyright: Copyright (c) 2014 Matt Silverlock - Licence: MIT, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elithrar/dotfiles/main/LICENSE The repo's licence file, verbatim from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elithrar/dotfiles/main/LICENSE: The MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2014 Matt Silverlock Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.